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The Christ in Christmas
So what is Christian about Christmas? The date? By all accounts Jesus was born sometime in March not December. The decorations and festivities? Far more likely to be connected with the Roman feast of saturnalia. In this feast, women dressed up as men, saved as masters, and in the British versions (Lord of Unrule, and Abbott of Unreason), the law courts were closed for 20 days which meant that any law breaking would go unpunished.
How about the candles? Lights in the middle of winter come from a pagan ceremony, and aren’t Christian at all.
The This is probably the most Christian thing about Christmas. You might expect an evergreen tree was a pagan symbol of worship. Actually pagans often worship oak trees, and some saint or other, chopping down oak trees to stop them being worshipped, discovered a fir three amongst the roots of one. It was fitting, new life out of old. Evergreen eternal life.
How about Santa Claus? There’s a popular giver of gifts. It’s usually depicted as an old woman. Santa Claus, or Saint Nicholas, rejoices in a story that he gave money to three sisters who wanted dowries to get married. There’s no mention of children here, or even that he was particularly religious - just a childless old widower with a kind heart. In fact pre- Victorian times, Santa Claus could appear in many different colours of outfit, and was usually much thinner. The chubby Santa we see today was created by Coca-Cola in 1931. Santa has been used to advertise cigarettes and booze for most of the last century.
Is this Bah humbug? I enjoy my Christmas as much as anyone else. I’d just like to know the truth.
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